‘Really fired up’: Fed-up nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital vote to strike

BOSTON — Thousands of nurses voted Wednesday night to go on strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

But before they do so, they’re giving the hospital one more chance to negotiate their contracts.

“People are really, really fired up,” said Michael Shuley, a registered nurse at Brigham and Women’s.

Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are fed up with their working conditions and contracts.

They’ve been negotiating with the hospital for months but still haven’t reached a deal.

“In order to recruit the best staff to take care of the sickest patients that we have, we really need to close the gap between benefits and salary,” said Shuley.

Salary is just one issue.

The nurses’ union says some of their biggest concerns are staffing and safety.

“Nurses are getting assaulted almost daily, the emergency room is on fire on a daily basis, and nurses and other ancillary staff are really getting harassed, bullied, physically assaulted,” said Shuley.

“We’re chronically short staffed, we don’t have the proper equipment needed to take care of our sick patients, and I think nurses are at a point where a strike is the last thing we would do, but it’s our weapon that we need to choose at this point,” said Robin Lucia, who’s been a nurse for 40 years at the Brigham.

Mass General Brigham released this statement Wednesday:

“We have been negotiating in good faith with the Massachusetts Nursing Association’s two bargaining committees at both Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, with a genuine desire to come to agreement with both committees. We have made progress, reached tentative agreements on many issues, and feel confident that we proposed fair contracts that will allow us to continue our trend of meeting or exceeding national staffing rates. We are prepared to continue discussions and deeply value the contributions of our nurses in meeting the needs of our patients and their loved ones.”

Still, thousands of nurses are now planning to strike for one full day soon if the hospital can’t agree to their demands.

“We go into it with a heavy heart, but we also know in the long run this would be safer for our patients if we get better staff, if we get better equipment,” said Lucia.

Now that the nurses’ union voted to strike, they’ll notify the hospital and the hospital will have ten days to respond before the nurses actually go on strike.

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